CEMA: Re-entry decision expected Thursday afternoon

Thursday

The Chatham Emergency Management Agency is assessing damages Thursday morning and will announce a decision about re-entry for evacuated residents in the afternoon.

At 5 a.m. CEMA was reporting 8 trees down affecting power lines in the county.

Public works crews were staged to remove debris after all areas have been assessed and declared safe to access.

Power

Hurricane Dorian continues to impact the Coastal Areas of Georgia Power’s service territory. The company assembled crews from around the state, and neighboring states who stand ready to respond as quickly and as safely as possible. As of 9:30 a.m. there were 14,102 customers affected by power outages in Chatham County, about 200 fewer than 90 minutes earlier. Please never touch any downed wire or low hanging wire, including cable TV wires that touch a power line. Never pull tree limbs off power lines yourself or enter areas with debris or downed trees as power lines may be buried in wreckage.

After the storm moves out of the affected areas and travel conditions are safe, damage assessment teams will begin to evaluate and repair services to customers.

Tybee

The Fort Pulaski tide gauge reached 8.01 feet at the overnight high tide. "This is more than 3 feet less than predicted and is GREAT news for Tybee," the City of Tybee wrote on its Facebook page at 5 a.m. "The Storm Surge Warning has been discontinued south of the Savannah River. We remain under a Tropical Storm Warning."

Sustained winds at Fort Pulaski topped out at about 44 mph, just above the minimum tropical storm speed, gusting to 58 mph at about 2 a.m.

Travel

Chatham Area Transit (CAT) is suspended until further notice.Live, interactive map of road closures in the area is available here: https://www.chathamemergency.org/PrepareNow/Dorian For assistance with route options due to closures and detours, residents are encouraged to use Waze or Google Map apps from your mobile device.I-16 contraflow has ended. However, this is not currently to allow residents to return to Chatham County, but to allow for resources and crews to be deployed to coastal areas as quickly as possible after the storm.Talmadge Bridge is closed until further notice.Airlines will have a limited schedule today

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